


A Hero in Her Own Right

by Illubuu



Series: Dungeons and Dragons [1]
Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game)
Genre: Family Bonding, Gen, father-daughter bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-09
Updated: 2020-01-09
Packaged: 2021-02-22 16:19:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22186306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Illubuu/pseuds/Illubuu
Summary: Reesa takes a morning walk and learns a little more about her past and future.
Series: Dungeons and Dragons [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1597036
Kudos: 2





	A Hero in Her Own Right

The soft whisper of the winds through the loose curtains was enough to stir Reesa from her sleep. Her eyelids fluttered open and she threw back her blankets, realizing only then how warm she was. Even nights here in the arid plains were hot enough to want to wander nude. The air smelled of peppermint and hot brick.

_ Shit. _ Reesa pushed herself up so that she was sitting. She looked to her vanity and saw the gold plate, smoke still pouring from the thin incense stick burning its way to ash. Her father would kill her if he knew she had left that lit all night.

The stone beneath her bare feet was lukewarm, not nearly cool enough for her liking. She padded her way over and picked the stick up, dunking it into the washbasin set further onto the vanity. Reesa looked up into the mirror and pushed her hair up onto the top of her head, securing it with one of the pins nestled into their bag, hanging beside the mirror. Behind her, she could see the beginnings of morning light coloring the horizon a light blue. It would be an hour or two before the sun made its appearance, but Reesa enjoyed the silence of her mornings too much to try and fall back asleep.

She wandered over to her wardrobe and picked out a long, soft cotton dress. She didn’t bother with any accessories - she didn’t need to impress anyone this early. She would take her chance to dress plainly and not have to wear the heavy bracelets and necklaces and earrings that had an awful tendency to pinch.

Satisfied with her dress, she wandered out into the hallway and towards the kitchen.

The palace hallways were plain and simple - a patchwork of pale yellows and whites, with torches laid out in even intervals. A number of them were out, casting the hallway in a very dim light. Reesa reached up and lit them as she passed. The opposite side was lined with windows that overlooked the city of Qa’ghati. It was difficult to make anything out with how dark it still was, but the few burning lights meant the city was just barely beginning to wake up.

The breeze turned cooler the further Reesa walked, until she passed into the main hall. Even in the dark, the room was impressive. The walls were no longer pale and, instead, brightly colored and decorated with symbols and scenes. The walls on the far right depicted the Almighty Uri placing her Children upon the land, in the Valley between the Rivers Beside the Sea - that which became the city of Qa’ghati. From there, Uri showed them how to farm the land and raise their livestock. She gifted them with color and beauty and love, then disappeared back into the sky. 

The wall on the left told the story of the First War, between the Aarestenians, Children of Uri, and the Plaugest, Children of Taut. Taut had envied Uri and Her Children and wanted them gone. But Uri had figured such a betrayal to be coming and protected her Children from the wrathful Gods with the Blessing of Turmatu, a great rock formation that sat at the center of their city. So Taut made his own Children and sent them like a Plague to destroy the Blessing and allow Taut access to the people. But the Great Warrior Fairesav stood and faced Taut and His Children and saved the city.

Reesa ran her hands over the painting of the warrior. Her father had named her after him - Pfairesav'es, meaning ‘with blessings of Fairesav’ - hoping that the spirit of the Hero would watch over his first born and bring her to greatness. She wasn’t so sure about the influence of spirits, but the honor of carrying such a name was good enough for her.

“Couldn’t sleep?”

Reesa nearly jumped out of her skin. She turned with a whirl and only breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that it was her father who had spoken, leaned up against the doorway behind her. “No,” she said after she had regained her composure, “I just thought I would take the chance to enjoy the silence.”

Her father hummed. “That makes two of us.” He wandered up beside her and turned his gaze to the mural. He was silent a moment. “The council meeting is today to decide what we will do with the Infernal prisoners.”

Reesa frowned. She shifted on the balls of her feet. “You don’t think they’ll kill them, do you?”

“I can’t tell you what they’ll decide. I only have so much of a say.” He turned to look at his daughter. “What do you think should be done?”

“I don’t think they’re bad people,” Reesa started. She hadn’t heard much about the situation outside of rumor and gossip. The only things she knew for sure was that an entire winter storehouse had been burned to the ground, eleven people had died, and the four mentioned Infernals had been found hiding nearby. The city had been in an uproar. “There’s nothing saying it couldn’t have been an accident.”

Her father hummed. “That is entirely plausible.”

“Have their people sent word?”

“No, nothing. And I worry that if it looks like the Infernal leaders are distancing themselves from these people then the council will take it as proof that this entire event was a calculated attack.”

“And push for war.”

Her father nodded solemnly. He followed Reesa’s action from early and placed his hand against the painted wall. “With our winter stores cut in half we don’t have the means to fight a long standing conflict with the Infernals. But the people will want to see someone punished for this and those prisoners are the perfect scapegoats.”

Reesa knew a majority of those who sat on the Council, her father was close friends with a few of them. She knew those who were kind and those who were cruel. She knew who would vote to simply slaughter the prisoners and be done with it and those who would call for a thorough investigation. But an investigation would cost money, and that money would be needed to try and replenish what the fire had taken. It was a conundrum indeed. 

Her father drew her from her thoughts as he placed his arm around her shoulders. 

“What about you?” Reesa asked, turning to fully face her father. “What will you say?”

“That I would rather let guilty men go than to punish the innocent. I’m sure Deitrev will have much to say about that, as will a lot of the council, but in the long run I think we are better to stave off killing them.”

“But you can overrule them, right?”

Her father shrugged. “I can, yes. But it will look dictatorial. At worst, people will think I am in the pocket of the Infernal governments.”

“And if it happens again?”

Her father smiled down at her. “Then we will deal with it when it comes.”

Reesa shifted uncomfortably. The warm breeze blew through again, but she was suddenly very cold. “I worry what will happen when I take the throne.”

Her father suddenly laughed, loud enough that the sound echoed off the walls in the main hall. “I’m not that old!”

“You know what I mean,” Reesa replied, though her mouth broke open into a grin anyway.

“You shouldn’t trouble yourself so much. You’ve got your brothers and sisters to help, likely a spouse to bounce ideas off of. And there’s no saying when you take over that I or your mother will be gone.” Her father put his hand atop Reesa’s head. “Being the  _ heust’iv _ is not a lonely place. I am but one man, but my choices come from the voices of many. Advice is our life’s blood.”

Reesa nodded. “I’m just-”

“I was, too. And I only had two sisters and my father. Being the oldest is no easy position, but you’re more than capable.”

Reesa looked back to the wall. The image of Fairesav looked back at her, his shield raised high against the blinding light of Taut. Behind him the city sat protected within his shadow. She wondered if he was watching them, watching her, to see how worthy his charges were of his protection. If she herself was worthy of his namesake. Of course, she didn’t believe his spirit was anymore here than that of her grandfather’s, but still the thought passed through her mind. 

“You know,” her father chuckled, “your mother hated the idea of naming you after him. Said it would only encourage you to be as reckless and foolhardy.”

“Ossi is way more reckless than I am!” Reesa protested. Sure, she snuck out more than any of her other siblings combined and enjoyed her silent time on the rooftops and her high speed races out in the desert, but her brother Ossi was more the type to tease a juvenile iriginii and get himself eaten. “And he’s named after the river!”

“And your sister is named after the God of Sunshine and Growth yet she is rarely up before midday.”

Reesa laughed. Her mother treated names like prophecies, that they alone would dictate how a person’ life would go. She believed that names were the first impression the Almighty Uri had on you and would treat you, or curse you, based on that impression. “If Ma hated the idea so much, why did she let you name me that?”

“Because I told her that Fairesav is a pillar to our people. He is an immortal part of our culture and has carried us through centuries even if he himself is not here. And knowing that you would one day take over the throne, it only made sense to have the Almighty Uri look upon you like She would Her Great Hero.”

“I guess.”

“And who knows,” Reesa’s father bumped into her shoulder. “You might be a hero one day, too.”

Reesa laughed. She was lucky to be allowed out onto the streets of the city, let alone go out on an adventure. Her mother would have a conniption if she knew that her daughter had even left the palace. And once she took over in place of her father, her chance to leave would be even less. “And have myself be drawn like that?” She pointed up to Fairesav’s likeness. “No thanks.”

“I don’t think it’s that bad,” her father started, leaning closer to get a better look at the wall. He paused, then shook his head. “On second thought, you’ve got a point.”

Suddenly, a beam of sunlight shot into the room from a distant window in the hallway. When it struck the center tiles, the torches surrounding the room all lit simultaneously, filling the room with light. 

Reesa and her father both jumped as the sound.

“I have yet to get used to that,” her father breathed. “I’m still used to the fetchers coming through and lighting them all.”

The sorcerers and wizards had been insisting for years that Reesa’s grandfather - the once great  _ heust’iv _ \- automate his lights, but it wasn’t until his son took over that it finally got done. In fact, her father had allowed an incredible amount of progress in magic and the arcane to flourish within the empire. Just in the past decade, so much had changed Reesa could barely keep up with it.

As she turned her gaze towards the sun, feeling its warmth, she wondered what sort of ruler she would be. It was a scary and exciting thought, to know she would one day have an entire empire in her hands. She would have to guide the council to proper decisions and keep the peace amongst her own people and with the other nations around her.

“You look lost in thought,” her father suddenly said.

Reesa nodded. “Just thinking about the future.” She looked down at her cotton dress and felt a piece of her hair fall into her face. “I should go get ready before guests start arriving.”

“I should, too. Your mother would strangle me if any of the council families saw me out of uniform.”

“She would strangle you, and then me,” Reesa laughed. She moved to start back to her room but then stopped and turned back. “Good luck in the meeting today.”

Her father gave her a broad toothed grin. “A Blessing from the Hero Herself.”

Reesa rolled her eyes and turned back down the hallway. She looked down at the city again. With the sun above the horizon, she could see the market square and the Temple and the river far off in the distance. The shimmering golden roofs were twinkling in the morning light and the polls of water within the yseruns shimmered. Reesa could just barely make out the early risers walking within the city streets. It was a peaceful city, and it was home. 

Reesa walked back into her bedroom and sat on her bed. She caught her reflection in the mirror.  _ Me, a hero? _ She pulled at the pin in her hair, letting it fall onto her shoulders.  _ As if. _

  
  



End file.
